Day carried with it the same dreary desolation. Rainbow Dash had perfected the fine art of flying with her eyes shut. This afternoon was no different... though it was getting difficult to discern the morning from the afternoon. If it weren't for the fact that there was constantly a lavender signal forever lingering in front of her—even with her eyes shut—then Rainbow Dash figured that she could very easily have gotten turned around and accidentally flown in the wrong destination. East and West were virtually indistinguishable; the landscape was simply that dull and uniform.
When Rainbow closed her eyes, all she felt was the drift of the wind through her feathers. She occasionally tilted up and down in her flight, causing the Yaerfaerda symbol to bob and dance in her blind vision, like a spotlight against the black veil of her eyelids. Somehow it felt that when she stared directly at it—eyes open or shut—the fine lines and “etchings” of the design were less clear. Like a faint light from beyond a doorframe, she had to tilt her head perpendicular to the beacon in order to detect it better. It was things like this that made Rainbow convinced that the symbol was playing tricks with her.
She was so fixated on this empty glide that she didn't hear the roaring noise until it was consuming the entire atmosphere in front of her. Curious, Rainbow finally opened her eyes. At first, she thought she was staring at a mass of undulating dog hair. Her heart skipped a beat, so she slid her goggles up over her brow and blinked several times before squinting.
The entire world before her was a mud-brown wall of mush. She had to tilt her head back in dramatic fashion in order to realize that there was—in fact—an extremely high peak to the phenomenon. Soon, the air filled with gritty sediment, and a rusty musk filled her nostrils.
Rainbow's muzzle scrunched. She had lived long enough—and flown long enough—to know a dust storm when she saw one. Memories from Silvadel washed over her. She looked up to see that there were a few sparse clouds in the sky, but the mare knew that they wouldn't last long against the turbulent onslaught. She could already judge from the speed of the storm's approach that the front was flowing its way westward—and swiftly too.
Rainbow Dash wanted to be well-prepared for when it hit. So, without wasting any time, she plunged down towards the surface of the Grand Choke and set hoof on polished stone. Here, she stripped of her packs and reached into Arcanista's bag. She removed the bundled tent, rubbed her hoof over the crystal, and caused the rectangular structure to expand within a blink. Then—as swiftly as she could—she pulled out twelve metal pegs and a mallet. At the base of the tent's fabric were twelve holes—three per side—through which the pegs could slide.
One by one, she drew the pegs through, then hammered them as hard as she could against the ground. The stone was dense—like steel. However, with enough force and repetition, Rainbow was gradually able to stick each peg in place, one after another. This task exhausted her thoroughly, and took the better part of forty minutes.
The storm was bearing down on her. Rainbow grimaced, cursing under her panting breaths. She was already feeling the knifing stabs of dusty gusts by the time she had gotten two of the tent's four sides hammered down. There was no pretending to be safe; she had to get the tent's foundation in place before the full brunt of the storm hit.
By the time she started working on the third side, it was getting hard to breathe. Rainbow wheezed, reaching into the tent and fumbling for Arcanista's pack. Inside, she found one of her blankets, then wrapped it tightly around her head and neck. Using the thing like a mask, she squinted through her goggles as she trotted out in the storm, hammering one peg after another. Then, when there was only one flap left, she squatted low and crawled under the remaining side.
At this point, the storm was deafening—like a gurgling howl full of gravel and flame. Rainbow struggled to keep the last flap down, forcing all dust and ash to remain outside. She laid her packs down on top of it to act as an anchor, then slid them aside as she hammered the last three pegs—which was no easy task for the pegasus to do inside her tiny, tiny canvas and burlap compartment. Her only light was the dim haze of the sun's glow bleeding through the fabric, but even that faded as the minutes wore on. The cloud consumed the Choke beyond, and drowned out the tiny tent where the mare huddled.
At last, Rainbow was done with her task. She fell back in a sweaty heap. Fumbling, she yanked both the blanket and the mask off her skull. Rainbow was a sweating, hyperventilating mess. She laid back, her fuzzy blue body occupying the full length of the tent. Her vision blacked out and returned as her heart rate resumed its normal pace. By the time she had caught her breath, she lay there on the stone floor, her eyes searching the dark outlines of her tent as she struggled against the persistent throb in her forelimbs from hammering the pegs non-stop for a full hour.
But, she had made it. The storm outside grew louder and louder, making the canvas walls of the tent ripple and roll. However, the Val Roan fabric remained in one piece, and there was no sign of tear anywhere... at least not yet.
Rainbow took a deep breath. She rubbed a hoof across her pendant, summoning a ruby glow that illuminated the tiny hovel with a crimson hue. In a situation that didn't involve a horrifying sandstorm looming right outside, this might almost be a cozy way to spend the night. All Rainbow Dash could think about was how dangerous it would be to start a fire in such an enclosed space. She could only hope that the blankets in her possession were enough to insulate her for the long wait—however long a duration that may be.
So, with a long-winded sigh, Rainbow Dash turned on her side, gazed lethargically at the flapping canvas of the tent...
And did nothing.
I don't remember how bad the last sandstorm she was in was, but I can't imagine that it would have been very pleasant to have the same level of preparedness with this one. It sounded like a doozy.
Besides, Grand Choke = everything is now Hardcore difficulty.
A shame she isn't in to books, really. Sounds like a nice place to read, except for the looming desolation and doom, that is.
Prepared? For... what? Cave exploring?
Edit:
Spoiler alert: nothing happens in this chapter.
No, seriously. Rainbow Dash does nothing.
Look, it even says so.
Kept refreshing the page to see new Yaerfaerda chapter pop up. It's 23:12 here, but who cares!?
Hmm... If RD happens to run out of waffles and bottled aqueous vapour, or gets caught in a duststorm unprepared, wouldn't the chaos influence protect her?
5678127
pigroll.com/img/cave_explorer.jpg
Wow I posted this and then you edited it to make the image irrelevant. Damn you, sir.
5678126 She could write.
5678136 Thee chaos magic seems too unpredictable and dangerous to rely on as a means of survival...
Well, that title isn't at all ominous...
5678149 True, but it has saved her life before.
I'd like to think of it as a necessary evil.
5678147 original context?
5678168 "Evil" isn't part of the equation. She just doesn't know how it works. The true nature of her ailment is the longest running mystery in this series.
All she knows is that it's related to chaos, is painful as fuck, makes her lose control of herself, and kills people within range.
And those are just the effects. We don't actually know what's really, REALLY going on when she takes off that amulet, or why those effects are produced.
Sand storms. How stone gets polished.
These chapters have been coming out a lot earlier than usual. I like that, since it lets me read them before going to bed, instead of the next morning.
5678107
Actually, how did she make it through that one again? I seem to have a vague memory of her huddling behind/under a slab of stone, but I could be wrong.
She got a bit lucky there, sadly she has nothing to do while she waits this out.
Oh, phew. I thought we hit that no magic zone or something already.
5678183 Yeah, makes sense.
The influence does seem to grant her some form of immortality, though, so when the situation is dire enough, it might help her to survive a bit longer. I wouldn't completely rule out that possibility.
5678197 She has things to do! They just can't happen on screen, is all.
5678212 Yeah, I could see her doing it eventually, but only as the ultimate last resort, and maybe not even by choice, just as a side effect to her giving up (if it ever comes down to that). I imagine that Dash sees "embracing the chaos" in the same light as "embracing death", because it's just as big an unknown, and there's no guarantee she'll be conscious, in control, or even self-aware once it's over.
5678212 The problem is, how does she get the pendant back on? The Discordish creature she becomes has no interest in doing that. There's nopony around to force it back on her.
Saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand.
5678225
cdn.alltheragefaces.com/img/faces/svg/neutral-poker-face-clean.svg
>mfw I realize I'm a dumbass.
Achievement unlocked- Sand.
5678127
Aren't you going to start shipping rainbow dash with the sand?
Loose grit has to be coming from somewhere.
5678193
From an unpublished chapter of Austraeohaiku
5678224
Not only that, but remember, in Equestrian Society, Harmony is worshiped almost religiously, which makes chaos seem pretty evil and explains why they find Discord so absolutely repugnant.
5678236
Made me think of: jimis-cyberstore.com/store/media/khaaaaaan-t-shirt-star-trek-cbs231b.jpg
(RIP Nimoy!)
I've got nothing but this. I'm sorry for getting this stuck in your heads.
5678126 It's a shame Dash never got a chance to be introduced to Daring Do, other wise she might have requested some reading material.
5678126
Not really, as there seems to be a lack of light.
A very good reason why things dont survve out there, Desert Of Timelessness. As the sandstorm rages, it polishes the rock down, forming dust that only makes the storm bigger.
Wonder how thick that rock is before you reach machine world metal.
Lets see how good the imps really are at tunelling?
Rainbow Dash uses Ingrain. Desert uses Sandstorm.
5678424
Sun's lighting the tent, and she's got her pendant.
5678507
Sun's covered by the storm, so very little light there. Didn't the pendant go down with Noble Jury?
5678520 If the pendant was gone, there'd be a chaos monster, not Rainbow Dash.
5678538
Right, got mixed up. Was thinking of the book.
5678520
The book did, not the pendant. If she lost that, well...
5678552
5678540
Actually, the book survived. Rainbow's bags weren't on the Jury when it blew up. She just gave the book to Belle moments before she took off.
5678559
5678552
5678540
Two Books. The glowy book that they found in the cave with the pegasus skeleton ended up being the Jury's power source and did, in fact, explode. The picture/scrapbook with the green cover that Dash had been carrying survived, but Dash gave it to Belle in what was a heavily symbolic moment.
As discussed, Rainbow is still wearing the element of loyalty.
5678302
There's hints, though. Like this part in Eljunbyro:
Apparently Luna knew something that she's not letting on about
Sandstorms are some gnarly shit.
stream1.gifsoup.com/view/1013878/sand-storm-o.gif
5678962
Yeah, I'm thankful I never saw one that bad, turns out I'm allergic to them or something. I had a really crappy week until I recovered.
Also, you guys are right. Dash totally should have brought a book. You never know when your traveling when you might end up stuck in place for a few...days.
Wonder how long the storm will last.
Oh joy. Dashie has nothing to do except literally wait out the storm.
And another line about the yaerfaerda being controlled by something sentient. Now all we need is another of Rainbow's weird Austraeoh dreams.
5678310 I'm guessing he's saving the shipping for when Rainbow finds the ocean. (Wouldn't it be fun if the next pillar was underwater?)
That's just terrifying...................what does a flame even sounds like?
And watch it Dash, you'll end up with sand in places you didn't even know you had.
5679437
Seaponies here we come!
5678310 Someone else already tried that, with disastrous results
5631088
Even I know my shipping limits.
5679491
the kind and helpful type, or the eat-you-alive-with-their-sharp-ass-teeth type?
As a long-time resident of the place where the Dust Bowl once existed, I can testify that "undulating dog hair" is a frighteningly accurate description of the phenomenon.
I wonder if this chapter was written as such because IC is stuck in his residence thanks to snow?
TIL I smell like desert
5678393 I gotta admit, that made my day.
I wonder if Axan is having fun following RD through this
The first sandstorm, possibly of many.
-Spirit